Which Customer Service Channels Are Right for Your Business

What Service Channels Should Businesses Use

The point of any business, no matter the niche, is to understand and predict the needs of its target audience and satisfy them. When your customers are happy with what you have to offer, your business has nowhere to go but up.

You should be aware of one more thing that’s quite important for growth – customers like to be involved in your products or services. When they know that they have a say in what you do, they will feel like you’re actually listening – this type of attentiveness should be on the top of your priority list.

That being said, it’s up to you to enable ways to get in touch with you with ease. However, it can be difficult to decide what kind of customer service channels you should go with when there are so many. My suggestion is to go through all of them and base your decision on your new-found knowledge.

Email

We should start with a fun fact here – did you know that 91% of consumers use emails every day? For the most developed companies, having an official email that’s active, with a quick response rate, is a definite must. People feel comfortable communicating via email; it seems like they consider it official. It’s just another way for your target audience to find you trustworthy.

Social Platforms

If you’re not on social platforms nowadays, it’s like you don’t exist. When a new potential customer finds out about your brand, you can be positive that they will play detective for a while and do a sort of research so that they can learn about your business. One of the things they will most definitely investigate is your social media accounts.

It’s not necessary for you to have a profile on every social medium, although it’s recommended – you should make your selection based on what you do. When you do create an account, you need to make sure that it’s properly filled out and that it’s active. Otherwise, your visitors will come to the conclusion that you’re probably not in business anymore. It’s like going to a store and seeing covered shop windows, framed with dust and cobweb.

Live Chat

Having live chat on your website is a huge trend right now and I’m a bit surprised that this hasn’t become a trend sooner – it’s common sense, really. When a visitor comes to your page, no matter if it’s a potential customer or a loyal fan, and they have a question they’d like to ask, they shouldn’t have to go to another medium in order to try and contact you – they can simply use your live chat and have you personally clear up that dilemma for them.

Knowledge Base

For those customers who like to learn for themselves, they find it more comfortable to read than to talk, and you should create an open knowledge base. This will solve a lot of your problems, and it’ll save you your time because anyone interested in your business niche, the way you do your business, your list of services, and how are they created, can simply access a quality knowledge base authored by your company.

Besides, content like this contributes to your reputation and expertise – releasing useful content and being transparent about your business in front of your target audience says a lot.

Live Phone Line

Contrary to people who like to learn by themselves, there are those who feel more secure when they hear a human voice on the other line. With so many businesses, real and false, popping up all the time, most consumers have had at least one bad experience in the past, which is why they prefer to know that they are working with an actual person.

Provide Multiple Channels to Your Audience

One medium for communication isn’t enough – it’s quite important that you provide your target audience with multiple options. Although people who might be interested in your business have similarities in their profile, that doesn’t mean that they lack in diversity. Therefore, based on what kind of company you are leading, make a selection and maintain those customer service channels regularly by being responsive and having enough staff to cover them.

Use Data You Gather for Strategies

The fact is that customers like to be heard and that they feel good about being included, but it’s also true that you should listen to what they have to say. Sure, you can predict their needs through various methods and strategies, but isn’t it easier to let them state their opinion about the way you do business than to go through a lot of trouble in order to hear that same thing?

Your customers will enable you to grow and develop, but it’s a necessity that you enable them to get in touch with you. For most of the suggestions I stated above, all you need for them to work is a good internet package and that’s it. You shouldn’t allow something as small as this to stand in your way to expand your business. Trust me, your audience will appreciate your efforts to make your company available to them – this is one certain way to build a trusting relationship with your loyal customers and it will pay off in the long-term.

Author Bio: Robin is a Technical Support Executive with a combined experience of 6 years. He is well acquainted with various Knowledge base tools and is currently associated with ProProfs. In his free time, Robin enjoys reading and traveling.

About Marc Duquette

Marc Duquette is a web entrepreneur with a core skillset in advertising, SaaS and Influence marketing. He is particularly interested in the aggregation of large amounts of data to create value and make markets more efficient. He is experienced in both the business and technical aspects of running an internet startup, having successfully founded, run, and sold an online advertising network. Currently working on Blogdash.com, which provides the first tool made just for Blogger Outreach.

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